I Hate Cilantro - an anti cilantro community

Spending some of the workday tracking opening and closings of restaurants in St. Louis, I found a group of folks who actually hate cilantro!

I Hate Cilantro - an anti cilantro community:

"Warm chips and salsa
What are those green flakes floating
Be very afraid
- CilantroYuk

Why do folks hate cilantro so much? I love it. But I also love their haikus. Torn!

ht GutCheck

ENGAGED!

OMG!

A for real college friend of mine got engaged! I am overjoyed for many reasons.

Southern Missouri Sisters

If any of you were wondering what I was like before St. Louis....



I was AMAZING!

My awesome cousins

BFF Scott and his awesome Kirkwood daughter, Baby Coco

Taken on a saturday afternoon visit with mer, who was just in town this weekend.

Bike tour!

Hiatus over.

Just saw this bike tour thing RFT's got going. Cool!

Coming clean

I'm in a musical.
High Fidelity THE MUSICAL - to be exact.

And I have been blogging it! OMG nerd alert!

& I don't care!

Policemen support the arts!

I liked the policeman I saw yesterday at the 20th ward meeting, he seemed alright.

It's a lil' off topic, but I like the way this video portrays the NOPD.


Get Behind the Badge - Steps from NOPJF on Vimeo.

wise, old words from TS

St. Louis needs to welcome creativity, encourage it and support it. If we try to create and manage creativity, we’ll end up stifling it. In The Dry Salvages, Eliot wrote, “The river is within us.” The strong brown god of creativity is within us as St. Louisans. We shouldn’t make the mistake of attempting to control it. We should simply stay out of the way and let it flow.

Nooooo, not TS Eliot... fellow "Quaker," Tom Schlafly!

Banana Man! of course!

Banana Man! of course!
Originally uploaded by lolololori

Saw it last friday.

Mississippi River Vallely thinkin

Have I blogged this? I just think it's *interesting* how the dots are the same sizes in my 3 fav cities.

Full Moon Prom

This was sooooooo fun. I *had* to switch to Busch by the end of the evening b/c we drank all the PBR.

What a party.

More later. Life has been full of weird and wonderful St. Louis, so tune in soon. :)

42

We've got a high school kid at the office doing an end-of-year shadowing session, and he sent us a survey with a big blank box at the end.
it read:

What does being an educated person mean? What is education? What is a person? What is the meaning of life? (and you can't put 42)

Being an educated person means you knowing there's nothing you can do that hasn't been done, but doing it anyway b/c its important. It also means knowing how to write a good email. Education should make you a better person, it should give your character a foundation to lean upon. It should not be about the bottom line (grades or money). I know that sounds fluffy, but it shouldn't be. You'd be doing yourself a disservice.
A person is defined by how they treat strangers who look or act sortof weird.
The meaning of life...
"There's only one rule that I know of, babies-- God damn it, you've got to be kind."
-Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Aside from talking about leaning on a foundation (mixing metaphors, oops --- part of being an educated person is knowing what mixing metaphors actually is, so I was just being meta...riiiight) -- I think I nailed it.

This is one thing I'd be interested to know your, dear reader(s), thoughts on. I usually don't do the "call for comments" thing, but if you want to answer those questions in the comments, it would be so fun if you did.

Southside Northside

Dudes, I had such a great time at the old north house tour today (including a special appearance by Mike of Crown Candy, who I'm thinking was there for the first time I actually saw a city city when I was 5 - b/c I am a country girl --- which means I was progressive before everyone i.e. 10-20 years ago!) and I'm TOTALLY not sure if I should by on the north or the south side. I mean, old north was just so lovely and community-y. I had such a time chattin' with Peevers (you might know him as Phil Valko) and co. outside the urban studio/cafe, and the neighbors are so into it. I liked it.

I don't know why, but I don't get that vibe from Gravois Park/Dutchtown - where I was looking before. I don't know why. But I like that community stuff- especially if I'm going to be crazy rehabbing. Which i will be.

Just got back from the trailer trash party in Southtown. What a night! it was so fun.

Swing Town

Miss Z is such a great photographer, huh?


Swing Town
Originally uploaded by velo_city

I know what you're thinking, is it 1998 or something? (I'm not dumb, I know people were swing dancing long before then...like, 1996 at least! badum bum)

Kentucky Derby takes me back to my Bootheel youth of listening to Dad go on and on about how he touched Secretariat once and getting super dressed up for church, ... among other things (fried okra and driftwood come to mind).

I remember - I had this great big peach hat and my sister had the same one for one of our Easter outfits that my mom sewed and embroidered with our monograms and everything...I was SO disappointed that Easter wasn't as "dressy" here when I moved! I was truly culture shocked in many ways when I moved (as much as a 2nd grader could be), but man, I think the slobbification north of the mason dixon line hit me hardest, and I've been rebelling ever since. I am a rebel!

I keep on saying I should maybe talk a bit more about my pre-2nd grade non-st. louis life (including my initial paralyzing fear of escalators, another St. Louis first for me), but y'all can just infer what you like, alright?

I owe ya

Again with the being very busy!

Much to relate, pictures and high-heeled adventures to share. I had the most fun ever this weekend! A very lovely St. Louis weekend.

This blog will just have to wait a couple days, though!

I write about beer!

I am so proud.

Just some of the wonders (I mean that in the humblest way possible) can be found here.

Busy week this week with a busy weekend ahead w/ rehearsal, cinco de mayo and the kentucky derby. woo!

(Grocery) list

I just got back from Schnucks.
I was listening to "baby all the time" (a song I downloaded just b/c it was written in the 40's by an alumni of Mask and Wig, an all-male comedy group of which I was quite the fan in college) and it was just making me oh so sentimental. Probably because I've been reading all this Belz poetry stuff. I love it! It's so awesomely sappy but totally not at all. It's what I would write if I were a poet, and I'm not. But oh, if I were! Lucky for me, Mr. Belz has me covered. I am so bummed that he is moving away, and I don't even know the guy.*

In the interest of keeping up with life and stuff, this has been a week of robust kookiness.

List of the week:

• Earth day with Molly, the sportsprint girl and tshirt/sticker co-conspirator
• met the Trailnet guy, who is such a cool guy! You may remember him as "some guy named Phil" who got the gang to go on the *Friendly* Bike Club, that is having a "prom" next month, crazy
  
• Saw Urinetown at WashU
• presented with Britany, my mentee at urban future about "the importance of high school preparation for teens." Brittany rules.
  
• found out someone I knew not-too-but-somewhat-distantly was shot and killed
  

• immediately became SUPER worried that everyone I know&love could get shot at anytime
• I think I may still be a little worried about that still/forever, so whatever
• yuck.
  

• Mayor Swoboda is OK! He can talk and everything! what a blessing.
  
• have been slowly admitting to loved ones that I'm in High Fidelity, the musical

• and that I have a blog about it (nerd alert) but so do a lot of others! (but come see me!)

• Got an internship and am workin' hard at it (it feels so great! challenging and fun work, too. Is this heaven? no, its maplewood!)
• wrote a lot about beer
• listened to mostly Alicia Keys, daptone jukebox and cartalk
• twittered a lot
  
• got QUOTED in the RFT! I almost forgot that. I have buried the lead!
• got intouch with the Foam on Cherokee guy, finally

• beginning to talk about coworking with others is awesome

• couldn't find Snowflake - AGAIN. Very embarrassing loss of direction abilities
• rediscovered that the Vital Voice is sortof an awesome newspaper

• - like a JV rft, but in the best way imaginable. In the way that they can cover things that wouldn't be glitzy enough for the RFT, but that I want to know about! i.e. I found out that Spruill's still exists! Though I will probably never ever go b/c I basically can't.
  

• Found out that Randall's has pastis
• went dancing at Casa Loma...it was super packed and a v. good time. yay swing dancing. I'm comin on 10 years I've been going to that place...whoa.
  
• raspberry hefeweisen! (schlafly brewers have a blog??!)
  
• encouraged one of my best friends to move away and get married (it's insane that it would come to that)
• went to a baseball game and stayed the WHOLE time!
• hi celia! do you guys know celia? she is so cool AND she reads the MVG!
  
• talked a lot about arm-touching and its significance
  
• The Hat Mart appeared in the Kirkwood-Webster times! eerie.
• The feature article in this week's Sauce is awesome (but not online?). I heart this Edwardsville couple. Their quote about how anyone can pick up the equity on their house and move somewhere cool, but that they'd rather try staying an making Edwardsville cool really rang true to me in a lot of ways.
• found the perfect shoe
• had a really good cheeseburger at tiffany's
  
• ugh, can that be it, please?

I understand now why I like to spread out the posts.
I'm sure there's more I'll remember later, and hopefully I'll have the sense to post as it happens/occurs to me instead of in a ridiculous list! To everything there is a season.

Grocery list:
4 ramen 10-packs
2 yogurts
hawaiian bread
swiss cheese
2 boxes of instant oatmeal
(would've been pastis, but no surprise, Schnucks doesn't have it)


*full disclosure, I think I saw someone that looked like the sketch-portrait on his blog get off a bus on South Grand once. Is that weird?, I think it might be. Oh well!

Hectic

Life is an exciting thing.

I've got a lot on my plate as of 2 days ago, and I want to write about a lot of things for you kids (and for me -- seems like this time is one I'll want to remember and tell the grandkids about it, etc...). Gimme some time, and I'll be around. Got some lists to knock out. But y'all know you can find me on twitter/tumblr anyway if you're like, dying to know if I'm drinking a coffee or admiring Rhianna's keen and adventurous sense of fashion!
I know you are!

Crazy internet. Lord, I cannot imagine what it would've been like if my grandma had been able to Twitter Pearl Harbor, etc... I think my brain just exploded.

Converting to corndog mysticism

>Have you written your postcard for Joe's yet?

Just got off the phone with the riverfront times for an article about the place. Crazy blogs! They'll get you into some mixes, apparently.

Ooooh, Joe's closing makes me so grouchy, I'm sure I rambled on and on about how much respect I have for Joe's and how angry I am about its closure for longer than necessary. Bless that reporters heart. I recall griping about the cabaret license that puts tables in the middle of *my* dance floors, too. Ooo, I do know how to digress!

But what better opportunity than to remind you to write your letter about why you like Joe's?

Joe's Cafe c/o Christman Studios
6014 Kingsbury Ave
St. Louis, MO 63112


Can't wait to be interviewed again when the place re-opens, though I DO worry that all the press it may take to get it may open may get it too many visitors who won't be respectful, listen to the music, clean up their trash, and appreciate the neon signitude of it all. That's a better problem than the current situation, I guess, where no one can go, respectful or no.

Here's the code that's apparently causing the trouble.
14.01.060 C.O.L. license.

A "C.O.L. license" shall permit the consumption of intoxicating liquor and nonintoxicating beer between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 12:00 midnight on Saturday upon a premises, for which a drink license has not been issued, where food, beverages, or entertainment is sold or provided for compensation. It shall not be necessary for the operator of a premises where food, beverages, or entertainment is sold or provided for compensation to procure a C.O.L. license to allow intoxicating liquor or nonintoxicating beer to be consumed upon such premises between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. (Ord. 61289 § 2 (part), 1989.)

Hey! Are you a lawyer who loves live music? Maybe you can find a loophole, huh?

Also, 1989? Seriously?

So ok....I guess all frat parties with a cover are also illegal, too. Oh, and if I have a party on a Thursday where I might make my friends bring their own O'Doull's, but also make them give me a dollar to do a tap dance to "I've been workin' on the Railroad"...that would be illegal, too - between the hours of 10pm and 6am. (it just so happens I already have a choreographed dance to that song, so it's a natural choice) Grrr.

Oh whatever, I'm an outsider kid anyway. What do I know about such grown-up things? In the face of all the crazy bureaucracy/ordinances/whatever, just being hopeful seems like clapping your hands twice if you believe in fairies to bring Tinkerbell back to life.

Still, a little keepin' the faith surely ain't hurting anyone.

UPDATE: here's the article

Newspaper vs. Newspaper

I don't like the looks of this.

So, I went to hear Bob Dufy of StLPlatform.org (and others) speak at WashU's New Media Symposium.

Heard that the St. Louis Post Dispatch recently trademarked "The Platform."
This means that now the *original* platform has to find a new name b/c they didn't think to trademark. Not trademarking - ok, so it was a definite miss-step on the part of stlplatform.org... but does it have to come to this very shady and disappointing conclusion? Some sortof patent office game of capture the flag? Oh geez.

Still, I don't like to look for bad things. I really really really don't! It's just bad vibes. So I go, ok, let's look at the dates, I'm sure they will all line up and it will be all a very funny story!

Let's play calendar:

• December 07 (right after I found out the thing even existed -- through a high school connection, guilty) article on stlplatform.org in St. Louis Magazine.
• Fast forward to March 08 - The Platform(tm) on St. Louis Post dispatch goes live.
  

Ooo, I don't like that 3 month difference there. It makes me go, "hmm."

Now, I can't quite figure out how to work the US Gov't's trademark search, found HERE, to see when exactly the trademark was registered for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. I'd like to know that date!

I learned, quite excitingly at the symposium, that news outlets have been opening up things like files (notably, the JFK files, oooo), etc... to their readers, saying - "We can't find anything! See if you can find something."

I don't think I've disclosed this, but I named my favorite cat, Nancy Drew - so I'm guessing it goes without saying that I love a chance to sleuth!

So hey Scott and Blythe (my two readers -- if you're not one of them, you try, too! and email me) - can you figure out how to search for a trademark's date? I don't want to point fingers, I don't want to scowl at anyone, I just want to know. And if anyone is in the wrong here (I'm no lawyer, so I'm talking about breaking Natural Law here I guess), I just want them to know that we the people, know.

Hrmph.

Ubiquitous!?

This is hilarious. And wonderful.

"In fact, there are some interesting things on that blog, including a cameo by local civic treasure The Ubiquitous Lori White."

And kindof embarassing (since it was a plug for my friend Ryan's writing workshop!) -- but in a good way.
So, I love 52nd city's blog - they're really achieving what they set out to do, b/c it has really brought some great things into my life - and I just can't plug them enough. Thomas Crone et al, I salute you.

Had no idea that just being friendly could be so noteworthy. It's easy to be a civic treasure! Everyone should try.

(Note, I'm still not a big deal. Just the same, let it not be forgotten that I am the #11 resource on "The Bend and Snap" on the ENTIRE INTERNET -- according to the The Google. )

Also, please sign up to Ryan's writing workshop! He is a very lovely and sharp fella and I he'll be in the next issue of 52nd interviewing his grandpa. The issue's theme? Sexy.

Color me intrigued.

On a related note - have you done your part to SAVE JOE'S yet?

A more appropriate about me section

"I'm from St. Louis. I live in St. Louis. I like to dance. That's me on the left. I like to talk to you about the StL, cities, and cool things. I like to dream of a futuristic St. Louis that's kept an eye on its past. Does that make sense? I don't know. This is my blog." is out.
Though it is true.

Time to simplify.

I am St. Louis.

The *Friendly* Bike Club

I know all you cool kids have been riding in this since you got off training wheels, but I just got a chance to participate in this awesomely weird St. Louis full-moon tradition. They're called the FBC, and they are really good at bikes. We rode from turtle park to carondelet park and back. That's a long way for this gal, but it was totally worth it to get dressed up and go. I do love riding bikes in cities.

When my pal Roz came to visit me here in St. Louis, she mentioned how she liked that this town has a lot of fun in which a girl (or guy) can participate. I always thought that there was more to DO in those big coastal cities like, new york?!!?! wink wink. Whatever, to each his own - stl's a do-it-yourself town, and ain't it grand?

So, here's the FBC through my wobbly camera.

I wish I could've gotten more takes of the group in its entirety. There were something like 60+ people riding their bikes down Macklind, it was pretty great. I was definitely at the tail-end of the ride, and had the privilege of explaining what the heck was going on to all the local folk. It was funny - and friendly!

See you next full moon!

Energy Drink Project featured on SlideShare!

Energy Drink Project featured on SlideShare!
Originally uploaded by lolololori

I'm not really sure what it means to be featured on SlideShare, but I have been! (Still investigating as to whether it's a good or a bad thing that 342 people have seen the thing and 16 people have actually downloaded it) It's for a project I've been working on for an internship assignment at an ad agency here in St. Louis. My, my, my, the job market. Don't get me started!

So yeah, I still maintain that I am not a big deal, but I will just take it that I did a good job/people like it. I'm pretty proud of it, actually.

Sidenote: there was a discussion on the twitter led more or less by MissRogue (whose new site looks so great! and who I greatly admire.), about how women often struggle with self-promotion. I will admit, this felt a little awkward. This on top of a meeting I just had with an old high school pal where she reccomended to me the book, "Women Don't Ask". Is this making mountains out of molehills? I don't know about that - I'm slightly on the well-versed side of things as far as feminist theory goes, and I'd say probably not. Maybe I'm just hesitant to put my work out there for all to judge. Who isn't? Who knows! I'm looking to get hired in St. Louis, so I can stay in this town I love. No shame in that!

Speaking of the devil, I've gotta get to work on my resume.

Openness and comments

Hey!
Mr. G over at Stltoday.com is talking about comment moderation. Now, if you're not sortof somewhat into the whole blogging thing, you're probably like, whatever.

Still indulge me - I love comments.
Who doesn't?! To me, its the equivalent of commenting on a magazine cover in the grocery line ("Gah, Aniston's hair is always flat! Is that supposed to be pretty?") & having someone else say, "Hey, you leave Jennifer Aniston alone, Brad Pitt broke her heart!!" And then conversation happens. Usually (with, as always, the exception of crazy folk) these conversations are either hilarious or pleasant, but sometimes it gets life-changingly insightful and/or mean&angry. Same with blog comments.

Reminds me of the Dane Cook Sneeze story.
Dane talks like a boy, so watch out, there's swearing. But it's funny.



Is this life imitating blog, or blog imitating life?! Who cares. It is hilarious.

So far it's just me and my 2 blog-friends (old high school cohorts) who comment on each other's blogs -- occasionally I get a comment from someone outside my teenage schemers and I just get so excited! I actually really like the angry ones. Whatever, I like'em all.

My favorite (and longest -- woo 6 comments or something, half-mine. ) comment stream though was about tshirts. I feel strongly about tshirts, and so do others, apparently. There was some almost-healthy discussion, too. I'm conflicted about anonymous commenters (as you could probably tell by the above tshirt spree, I don't want you to be anonymous b/c I wanna talk to you, not your keyboard, y'know?) . A lot of my non-close-dear-I-know-their-mom-type friend commenters are anonymous, and I like their opinions, and would prob miss out on'em if I made everyone say who they were...or at least what their email address was.

Can you imagine having this grocery store conversation, only someone put a paper bag on their head or ran away immediately after responding to how you were on Team Angelina? It would be silly.

Meh, I'm done being meta.

Red Lipstick Project

I've always wanted to do this, so no time like the present.
(full disclosure: I was inspired by Lauren's fierce red lips in the season premiere of The Hills - the lipstick that broke this camel's back!)

I'm going to wear a red lipstick every day for a month and see what happens. Maybe I'll think a positive thought about the world whenever I put it on, too.
It might change my life.

Could lipstick change a life?
check twitter.com/lolololori - I'll most likely flickr it, too - and we'll see.

ps I'd like to blog a little bit more about my career "journey", but it feels a lil' too overexposed, and it can get sticky. Stinks though, I know that the whole post-grad "chicken/egg" issue that liberal arts smarty-pants encounter could really be beneficial to someone who's maybe a step or two behind me. I know me 2 years ago would've loved that - to read about the nitty gritty. And frankly, me now would just love to see what other folks like me did to get that foot in that proverbial door!

Maybe I'll suck it up sometime and own up to the fact that my being a step or two behind the stuffed might actually be something others could learn from...and maybe that's more beneficial than this old-school smoke screening. Meh. I don't make the rules, malheureusement. "Behind" is a relative term, anyway!

pps I also would dare to say - since I posture some sort of Ricky Florida-esque commentary in this here web log, might as well come full circle here, folks - that this whole career journey thing is particularly symptomatic of what I hate to say may be a disease - "Insularitis" I'd deem it - that St. Louis, my dear St. Louis, is suffering from. Sigh.

Maybe I DO want to be a Lawyer

I mean, seriously, maybe I do.

"In contrast to the disappointment raised by our elected officials, law students from across the country have responded to the call to work for social justice in the Gulf Coast."
the humid haney rant: The Student Hurricane Network (SHN)



That's what the law is there for, right? Are all lawyers bad? I will have to talk to my friends about this. Would definitely turn my dream of being creative director of my own local boutique ad firm on its head, but .... well, I'll look into it.

Oooh, but LSATS are sure hard.

Gah, can't I just do both? Will be looking into how to take action on these fronts.

Complicated life

I'm sure I've posted this before, but I just wanna be this guy today.
I'm gonna try my best tonight at the Full Moon bike ride with the Friendly(ed.) Bike Club. Exciting that it is on a Friday.

Now, I owe this lil' chronicle a little more than a stream of youtube, and though I have gears a turnin' in my noggin...to everything there is a season. So until the world makes a little more sense, or the full moon goes away (or both!) -- enjoy the video.

Get you some a'that!

I saw this Really Awesome country rap (name check's Tim McGraw and the CMAs) video over here, under the headline (title?) "The Obama Effect" -- ?


All due respect, but I think that's giving Obama a liiiitttttle too much credit. But hey, if that is the case, bless him and his unifying ways, and I mean that in all seriousness! I tend to think it was maybe just the effect of some kind, everyday people, not some (extremely, ridiculously, like whoa) well marketed Harvard Law School fella with no voting record's mere presence on CNN giving a misquoted re-reading of "The Little Engine That Could." Sure that engine could climb that mountain, but could he croon? (and by croon, I mean vote in a consistent way b/c he has voted enough to have consistency)

Don't give your credit all to Obama - that's all I'm saying. But I guess Obama (or Will.I.am singing Obama's word) would tell me that I "can" give myself the credit. Well I do, and Barry Obama's got nothing to do with it, thankyouverymuch.

My horoscope said I should try to not be a grouch today...oops! I am feeling grouchy!

Well, if anyone thinks they can whip me up a batch of Obama Kool-aid to drink (I'll especially need it if he wins the nomination, and it will especially have to be made from a nice sugary policy-based powder...I also like watermelon flavor, fyi) -- whip it up!

Gah. I'm sorry! Politics are so obnoxious to me right now.

Good News!

Do-Nuts Drive-In St. Louis, MO on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Flickr has improved my life today.

THE Donut sign on Chippewa is returning!


From agilitynut on flickr -- (it pays to see if anyone's responded to your comments, as I did for the first time today):
"It's some sort of Route 66 grant. But since my post, I've spoken to the sign shop. The guy working on it is very much a preservationist and he assures me that the sign will be back up, one way or another, in June."

Yay! This is good!

Moonvertising

It's not real!



It is kindof brilliant though. It's for Rolling Rock Beer! Those beer advertisers. What do they do all day? Can I do it, too?

What the heck is a schmoopie?

D@mn the Man, Save Joes!

The forces of mediocrity are at it again.

"The Man/City Hall" has closed down Joe's!


Noooooo!

Get out your pens, people!
I'm surprised to have not seen this anywhere else.

Here's the owner's letter/plea.

" Hello everyone,

As you probably already know, Joe's Cafe is currently closed and will
continue to be "on vacation". In order for us to reopen we will need
to obtain a permit for the "consumption of liquor" from both the city
and the state.

Some of you have offered to be of help, so we'd like to ask all of you
to send a few kind words of support ( a postcard is fine) to:

Joe's Cafe c/o Christman Studios
6014 Kingsbury Ave
St. Louis, MO 63112

The sooner the better! Proving to the city that there is a strong
basis of support for Joe's Cafe could go a long way in helping us to
reopen.

Thank you,

Bill Christman
Andrew Pryor
Kevin Christman"

Sigh! In the name of all that is good, please write a letter! (or 100)

UPDATE: If you'd like to offer a few kind words of support to Joe's, but don't feel like dealing with stamps and paper, put your words in the comments below (or email'em to me) and I'll send'em on through.

My day with Roz - a double date with St. Louis

Y'all wish you were riding with us today!

I had so much fun running around town with my college pal, Roz. She's just as cool as way way cooler than I remember (hadn't seen her in 2+ years!)...and she is pretty cool. Can't say enough about this girl. Delaware should be proud to have produced her! I'm also glad her Dad, who went to SLU med school, sent her to me with such enthusiasm for St. Louis! I'm glad in general today, though I am exHAUSTED.

I'll definitely be posting a'plenty later about our trip today, with a few pictures. The order particular of our sightseeing was the most noteworthy for us, also pretty hilarious and pretty perfect. Gosh I miss my Penn friends a LOT sometimes/all the time. You forget what wonderful people you get to say are your friend when they're all so spread out across the frickin' globe. Lucky world. (Roz is going to Uganda soon - and blogging about it - so if you're into that, you know there will be links)

So, we absolutely didn't fit everything in, and barely went to any bars, so I'm hoping to take her out for a congratulatory cocktail after her med school interview is over. Hopefully she will be as impressed with the Jesuit Medical training offered here as she seems to have been by the city proper. We had such fun discussions as Roz got to know St. Louis.

PS I was totally wrong about the "new" Sandrinas... I'll tell myself I was just misled by Grand Opening Weekend Crowds so I don't feel too dumb. Its a win-win situation for me though, I am quite happy to have been wrong! Went there on Thursday - the jukebox was working!!! - can't say enough. Yay!
PPS The Buttery is now a stranger place to visit, and not in a very good way. I've been scared/upset about people the past 2 visits. It's also more crowded, which should be good, but turns out its not. Seems so at least. More on that later.

St. Louis Startups whaaaa?!

Awesome.
http://www.stlouisstartups.com
Yikes, meeting tomorrow at the same time as my Grilled Cheese Club meeting.

Anyway, how cool. Good for these guys, I can't wait to meet'em.

Mardi Gras Makeovers

Mardi Gras is so important to St. Louis life. It's a little silly that no one else in the world knows that. I, however, know that, and I even audaciously go to the festivities on Mardi Gras weekend (sorry IndieValentine. I really wanted to go to you, but why did you have to pick Feb 2?)

My goal for next year is to develop some sort of nutritional/hydration plan that will help me and mine to hit the town later in the mardi gras evening, as opposed me and project runway hitting the couch. In the works as well is an all girl marching krewe, a la Camel-toe Lady Steppers. How I admire my sistas down the riva! We will have to dress more seasonally in Ski Bunny fashion b/c it usually snows for Mardi Gras here in St. Louis.

I have much to learn of Acadian St. Louis/Mardi Gras Tradition before the wheels start a'turnin' -- and lucky for me I have about a year to learn all there is. I know I can use my sister's mad trombone skillz somewhere in there, and her dignity will be prepared for it after a year in our Nation's Capitol. You, reader, should join in on the fun.

Hm, where was I? Oh yes. My kid sister and gave ourselves mardi gras makeovers courtesy of The Future Antiques. How much do you love these guys?

So here's the timeline of my sister and I:
- Drink at suburban home, hop on metrolink at Maplewood (an inspired decision! hurrah for metrolink! It looked like a fair share of inebriated surburban kiddos were getting their first taste of Public Transportation, and all the better! Gotta start somewhere.)
- Wander the lovely Acadian neighborhood of Soulard
- met some out of towners, said hello, welcome, etc...
- saw some high school buddies, mention of some house somewhere, perhaps a party, hmm
- enjoyed a sandwich I had surreptitiously packed in my purse
- got overwhelmed and decided to flee west down Russell
- 20-30 minutes later, arrived on grand, and it was time for a makeover, b/c we were soggy
- $5 rack at TFA = inspired!

Allow me to delight you with our before/after shots.






And then we went to dinner at The King and I in our new dinner outfits.
& it was fun.

(ps I'm trying to geo-tag these posts for the sake of outside.in .. let's hope it works!)

Later, sis

So the White Family just sent my kid sister off to seek her fortunes in Washington DC. Fine, I guess its hard to do national politics in St. Louis. I'll miss having her around as my go-to partner in crime, but she'll come back to visit/run for Mayor (it's on the list) - and I will certainly go see her b/c the swing dancing in DC cannot be beat!

Too bad, though - as this week is shaping up to be pretty much awesome...lots going on, and plenty of scheming to be done. I love a good scheme.

So it goes

in Kirkwood, MO



and so on - in my hometown.

Dang

The Cabin Inn is closing its doors!

Gah, they had the best DJs.

I'm hoping it's a temporary thing. Sigh, February.

Black Forest Theater in South Dallas

So, to say that this place looks amazing and awesome would pretty much be an understatement.




It would be so great to see Cafe Soul (Feb 15th at Lucas School house...GO!), in such a wholly appropriate venue. Man, I love Cafe Soul a lot. It's as close as I've come so far to those soul revue type performances that I can't stop watching on youtube. I'd rather see'em live.
Oooo, Marc Broussard could go there, too.
It's not a black/white thing, k?
It's a soul thing.

And Erykah Badu started the whole rehab. What an awesome lady.

hat tip DuBruit

A President Like My Father

Listening to my dad rant last night after Edwards dropped out was what I imagine it would be like to step back in time to when the Democratic party was a party of the people, NOT just fancy schmancy poseurs. I'm not backing down on that business, either.

Let me tell ya about dad.

Dad's a fervent southern/new deal/yellow dog democrat. His grandfather came here from ireland to dig ditches in the bootheel of missouri. Fast forward to when he was lucky enough to meet my mother, and now I have an Ivy League degree.

My sister and I are the John Edwards of our family. When John Edwards proper dropped out of the race, the voice of earnest 20 somethings like me got a lot quieter.

Sounds like we're giving up. We're not, its just a shame.

"Yet when John Edwards tried to build a campaign around ... issues he was subjected not only to the opposition of the establishment and its media but a notable tone of ridicule whose subtext was: why would anyone want to bother with such things? Especially a guy as rich as Edwards?

And when he pulled out of the race, Edwards was treated to more of the same, especially from such faux hip websites as Gawker, Radar and Fark:

Radar: The pretty-boy presidential candidate scored just 14 percent of the vote in yesterday's Florida primaries. . .

Fark: John Edwards announces he will drop out of race today to spend more time with his hair.

Gawker: John Edwards will end his 49th run for president Wednesday after failing to capitalize on his angry hobo-under-the-bridge message.

These sites, like much of elite America, are led by spoiled offspring of generations who had to struggle with just the sort of issues Edwards was trying to raise, but from which they now consider themselves immune by their education, status and cleverness. "


Sortof embarassing, ain't it? I really feel this argument. The crux of it is a large part of the people-based why of me staying and setting up "shop" here in St. Louis.

Read the rest here. Seriously, skim it.

Makes every point I would've continued to make for John until Nov and I'll make for myself forever. So many points.

John Edwards for president (of the shadow government) of the USA!

As God is my witness, I'll never watch Oprah again.

I'm hoping that John Edwards (the only guy that could've beaten McCain, despite the collective svengali-ing Obama's been doing) will take up the cause of NOLA, healthcare, and the struggling middle class in a private sector way, grow a beard, make a movie about it, get an Oscar and win a Nobel prize.

That's how you do it now, right?

I like my shadow government presidents Pretty and Populist. Frankly, that's how I'd like my ACTUAL president, but its not looking so good in that area.

From now till Tuesday, I'm going to have to decide which of the two dems are the Robin Hoodiest, and vote for that one. I won't say which one seems to more likely, in my mind, rob the rich and give to the poor (though I've picked one), because I am STILL an Edwards Girl.



I was so looking forward to living in a more swedish/scandinavian (healthcare-wise, though I am not averse to a nice meatball) United States of America. John's gonna find a way to do it more expediently and better than he ever could have as president.

We'll wait and see what happens in the General.

Crime maps

The cockamamie ideas have to go somewhere, people.

I wish St. Louis had a better one of these, in chicago
And since I hate comparing StL to Chicago, one of these - the font's cooler, too - in Oakland, CA.

We (meaning St. Louis) supposedly has one here, (and a PostDispatch graphic designer, who I found through the proverbial tweet, makes some cool interactive maps here) but I've never ever managed to get it to open b/c it crashes Firefox and I'm afraid to try again (for the 7th time or so). I wonder what is up with the crime map as it is, though. Who made it, how does it keep updated, where does the info come from, all the little algorithms that seem to come into play when you're making a dynamic map-type thing, etc....I wanted to look up the location of this.

Wouldn't that be nice, just to know what's up? It would be SO nice.

Perhaps it's time to talk to the computer science departments at the top-notch Universities in the area. Call me an optimist, but wouldn't it be a wonderful way to not only pool the resources of the brains that visit our city during the school year, but also to bring the people a little closer to their lovely crime-fighting policemen. Not everyone can be as lucky as me and get tips from the ones who visit your coffeshop.

It's usually not the easiest situation 9especially if you look at the issues the Oakland crime map has had), combining police work with computer programming, because the policemen have work to do that's v. serious and crime maps just wanna make a little dot on it, and maybe that's not as serious. Still. It's an opportunity. A lemonade out of lemons situation. And if college kids work on it, they'll get to know the city better!

Talk about an unintended consequence, getting to know your city better through tracking its crime -- but you gotta start somewhere, right?


Just a thought. And a coworking space (or an awesome meeting room with lots of plugs, but that's a little redundant) would be a great place to do it.

Anyone know what a speakeasy is in this town?

So, ok. Sauce Magazine, I love you. But your very talented writers have described the Sol Lounge (in the back of the new Grind coffeehouse, which has a Glorious amount of space for study) as the a place that "serves up the perfect pint and a speakeasy feel."

So I'm thinking, Oh my gosh, beer and a speakeasy. Two Very Awesome Things! Will there be bathtubs filled with bud?!?! Maybe some red velvet curtains and someone soloing on clarinet, that sorta thing. Wow. You know, maybe I should bring my tap shoes.

Now don't get me wrong, it's a cool place.
My sis and I stopped by for the Young Dems State of the Union viewing party (which was, apparently, a dress-down event. Didn't get the memo that we wear sweats to bars now, ya democrat hooligans.) and had a pint.

It's visually stunning! Big ol' tv screen. Blue bricks! The blue bricks are awesome, and in different shades that match the fishtank/fireplace...kindof a decorative non-sequitur, but I liked it. The bar was cool. There were blue lights. DJ booth. Little living-room looking loungy areas with little mod couches and gossamer to separate the one from the other.

But...there was NO local beer on draft (not. even. Bud. C'mon!)
- perfect pint, no check
Aaaaand, the place was more "bar from the Post-it episode of Sex and the City" than smoky Chicago the musical fare. I guess it was the high ceilings - they kinda ruined it. I was thinkin' it'd be more like my favorite almost-a-speakeasy joint. it wasn't. I guess what they means was that it is sortof hidden. Ok then, speakeasy location, but not feel.

Cafe Sol was definitely a more interesting take on the whole "used to be a warehouse, now it's a bar" model like lush, f15teen, etc...etc...etc... and so on forever. Heaven knows there are warehouses a'plenty. I'll go back though. It's a cool place for what it is, its still a good place to get cred for even having HEARD of, the coffee house is really cool, and it's on Lindell, which is a cooler street than ya think.

I might be wrong?!

Went back to Sandrina's with my kid sister last night and.... it was pretty nice! Maybe a bit over drywalled, which is a shame, but eh.

The last time I went I was a little put-off, plus it was near closing, but maybe I can be done with that and end this whole miniseries happily. I hope. Then, there were just lots of ---though I'm sure they were lovely, kind and charitable --- sortof Xtremely bland types of people. Not exactly Helen Fitzgerald's, but not exactly what I was expecting either. Whatever. Now, on Monday nights at least, not a lot of company, but good company.

- The sis and I brought the total of patrons to about 6, which was fine.
- The bartender, Trish, was teriffic.
- My sister and I even saw some guy I met at the Prom (the grown up one at mad art...weird on a couple levels, huh?)
- We discussed our favorite theme parties, Golf Pros and Tennis Hoes, CEOs and Business Hoes, Barbarians and Librarians, etc..etc...
- M, my sis, found the bathroom stall in the ladies, "innovative!"
- The bar itself was cool, wooden, and the light fixtures nice and tulipy. I liked those.
- I've never been much for white/off-white/beige walls. The overwhelming beigeitude of the bar area takes away from an otherwise kindof awesome bar. Should've taken a picture or two.
- I don't know what the dining room used to be like, but it was more restaurant than bar, except for upstairs.
- It was friendly, slightly weird, and st. louis-y.

So, I of course had to ask Trish about the jukebox, and she immediately says, "oh, i can change the music if you don't like it!!" -- which of course wasn't necessary b/c she was playing Allison by elvis costello, one of my Favorite Songs. Turns out it was her ipod. So that was a good sign, Trish has excellent taste. We did some exploring upstairs. We were on a jukebox hunt -- it was in disrepair, but cool in a different way from mine...I still think mine has better Italian classics, not just relying on Sinatra to be up to code.
Come back to Sorrento, hellooo?

I hope they do get their 3am license - it would be a nice place to have around, and maybe the late nite vibe'll keep the riff-raff out, or at the trophy room...which is not without its merits, if you're in that sortof mood.

I'll happily admit having been wrong. Man, I hope I'm wrong! We'll see though, one of these weekends. I still think the remodel might've hurt more than helped, but I don't know much, other than my own opinion.

Now you know it, too.

Le Saint Louis - Faites-Le Vous-Meme

I think there 3 schools of people in St. Louis and in the US as far as cities are concerned.

• There are people who want/need to live in a BIG monster city (Chicago, LA, DC [maybe], SanFran, NYC) for their work. Things like acting, wall street, the presidency and some Silicon Valley-type work come to mind.
  

• There are people who want/need to live in a BIG monster city (Chicago, LA, SanFran, NYC, Portland) b/c they're into "city life" and they want the city be very obvious. "Ooo look! A subway! A tenant apartment! People wearing weird sunglasses and big scarves! I feel like I'm in europe and I can walk EVERYWHERE!" The city part of the city is all set up for you to enjoy, and you see it in the movies - so you have some idea how to act in these types of cities.
  

• There are people who want/need to live in a smaller, dirtier city (StL, Memphis, NOLA, Philly) because there's more opportunities to do something regionally/universally "new" and there's more room to stretch. Maybe they have time to figure out how to act, maybe these are fixer-upper type people looking to bring a little something more to a town that's forgotten itself, maybe they're artists developing their work before they move to hit it big in NYC. I don't know.

...right?

Anyway, while looking for a map that shows where all the red light cameras are in St. Louis and I came up on this letter printedin an/the RFT blog from a confused Indiana-type-of-hoosier who's really struggling to find his place in St. Louis, poor guy.

"Please, good reader, tell me. I am either blind, ignorant, or too caught up in my own issued to see it. ...What the hell is this town about? I really do wish to know."

I mean, I told him.

To me, St. Louis is the town that built the City Museum across the street (more or less) from Lucas Park Grille. When you think about it, that's pretty cool. Sounds like he just needs to drive around - have some donuts, maybe.

Maybe he should have a one of these.

I also can't tell if he's trying to disrespect or if he's genuinely asking for help. But most frustration comes out in a tone a lot like his letter, so I'll just assume he's distressed. I will say though, St. Louis is not an obvious city. But that's part of what the town is about! Still, there should be some way to translate St. Louis for poor stl transplants. Hmm, that's something to think about.

One of my favorite tshirts says, "La Nouvelle Orlean - Faites-le vous-meme." It means, "new orleans - do it yourself." It means a little more than that though.

What's true for cities like NOLA is true for St. Louis. I happen to think it's one of the best things about my town. Gotta get up and do something.

sometimes I watch 2 movies

It doesn't happen too often b/c I'm not really a movie person. There's just not enough pomp to go to a theatre and I get ancy sittin' around.

So it's a good thing I got sick! It really knocks the spaz outta you.

Even then, I only managed to watch a lot of Keith Olberman/Tina turner on youtube aaaand Mr Smith goes to Washington! Oh the monument montage. Gotta love that Frank Capra, and Jimmy Stewart is extremely adorable.

But hey, the movie ended so suddenly! He passes out, the silver knight guy yells and roll credits! I was like, Yay Jefferson Smith!...? Yay America! I guess!...?

Clarissa was awesome, though. That girl could WEAR some hats.

So, next: I accidentally slept all day today - I had a little lack of sleep issue these past two days, and it's turned me nocturnal. I feel dumb complaining about lack of sleep when John Edwards probably hasn't napped since Iowa, but still. It's been weird.

So ok, today I slept through the time I'd typically use to do things like, curl the hair and call the friends, so instead - it's movie time.

And I saw ONCE, finally! It was good, I felt the love. More love than March of the Pengins, if you can believe it. Now WHY did everyone bill that as some sort of true love story? I was really hoping see something along the lines of The Big Hearthrob in the Snow : Pengins Fly on the Wings of Love -- like Noah and Allie, Nick Sparks' The Notebook love, but with penguins+morgan freeman+a little imagination -- but it was all pretty much lost on me. And I am not a prickly, cynical type of gal when it comes to seeing love.

I guess it just goes to prove what I suspected all along...pengins don't know a thing about romance!

They're just like those TV-watching wisecrackin' punks I saw on Beakman's World back in the day. Can I mention that I saw Beakman's World on TV today? It was awesome. And the wisecracking penguins were cackling with their smokers cough (naturally) by the tv as usual.

Did I really watch that show 10+ years ago? My, it is timeless.

So all penguin-non-love aside, there was something nicely real about the love or whatever you'd call it in ONCE - very good "meet cute" stuff that I always find just fun and sortof intriguing to watch. I sortof hate it how inudependent movies are always 20 minutes short of a wonderful ending, and just end in mundane normal posssible possibility but probably not possibleness. Like Chasing Amy. What was up with that ending!?! I know why, but I also am like, why not have a full circle awesome love story. If awesome love stories are good enough for Nick Cassavetes, they're ok by me - I'm just sayin'.

The musicy stuff of ONCE was cool to see - i guess the process of ONCE (and the fact that it took about a hundred thou to make) was the most important and I'm glad he kissed her on the cheek and bought her a piano.

music consumption of 1999 throwback

Remember when you'd search your name in Napster?
Where else would I have found the classic, "Tell Lori I Love Her" - by Keith Whitley?

I think it was one of the first songs I downloaded. That and like, I Don't Like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats b/c my History teacher at the time mentioned the band, and I wrote it down in my Planner. I think I was like 17 at the time.

I just discovered songbeat. Its like old napster! But wayyyyyy more legal. That's a good thing. Oh my goodness the gifts of lifehacker.com. What I liked about Napster was the whole, "ooooh, I must hear this random song that someone mentioned like, once or I saw it in a magazine (or heard from my history teacher, or has my name in it) and I want to hear it." Bam! You could search for it on Napster. There was so much obscure stuff, and then *poof!* gone.
The Man taketh away.
Makes me think about Empire Records.

What is it about The Man and Music? Contentious stuff!

Anyway, Songbeat approximates that music treasure hunt, so I'm happy. And its sortof pretty, too. And way easier than hoping that the random guy who set up Danny Kaye on myspace.com has the song about the Congo (its a great song - how I long to have it on my profile...wait, is that dorky?). I'm liking songbeat wat more than LastFM...though I am learning to love the last.fm for what it is. Though I'm not so sure about having people see how much I've listened to Alan Menken and the soundtrack to Princess Diaries 2 (its uplifting and light! and I was a college senior - it was heavy times) , the awesome doo wop stuff that I would not otherwise have found is worth it! That's what you want. Stuff you wouldn't have found dovetailed from stuff you already like.

Though people/whoever on last.fm have tagged Marc Broussard COMPLETELY wrong, and I have no idea how to fix it...yet...maybe I could attach him to Bill Withers and Donny Hathaway a bit...so it stops sending me to Howie Day and such. Perhaps though, there is no one similar enough to Marc to make me happy.

This could be possible.

Come in from the Cold

Oh my, I was exhausted from the caucuses, and then I got this crazy cold disease thing. Let me tell you, it was crazy. I was well at 5pm last Saturday, and by 6pm I was basically driven to uselessness (re: watching too much MSNBC) sick. The Nyquil sleep was nice though.

Anyway, I'm back! Life in the 3rd week of January in the City of Saint Louis is great. I'll give you a run-down.

I saw John Edwards yesterday at his rally at the Carpenters' Union Hall. I really do like him. We'll see what happens. I vote how I WANT in the Primary. I'll pretend its the general, and my mind alone could WILL John the nomination. Right? Right.

I also had a great interview this past Friday -- it was just a fun interview. Who knew!? I suppose I can share that in this here forum. Come to think of it, I've had a couple other interviews that were actually fun. Only the other fun interviews did not result in a Donny Hathaway John Lennon cover! That's good stuff, however you look at it.

A friend and I were talking about how much we hate the interview question about your strengths and weaknesses, and how annoying it is that everyone answers the weaknesses with something that will show that they work too hard, but it's something they're trying to overcome....that sortof thing. You'd do it, don't lie! It's an act everyone puts on when they're playing the interview circuit. Interviews are the new vaudeville.

So we came to the conclusion that the next time that question gets asked, why not play it for laughs and just say that my biggest weakness is illiteracy.

...And I've done very well, thank you - and I don't appreciate you bringing it up!

Sandrina's - bummer

It's now a hoosier bar!

Sad.

I missed it in its no-signed, no-tank-top-allowing "heyday." There really is no place to lounge from 1:35 to 2:45. As I type it, it doesn't seem important, but at 1:35am, it sure does. Mangia Italiano just does not cut it. Is it really to be that I was 17 when all the cool stuff was happening in the great city of St. Louis?

I cannot believe it.

Oh St. Louis, be liberal with giving your 3am licenses to people who won't put a sign on their bar.

Sandrina's - is it true!?

Ok, so I'm really excited about my Windows Movie Maker moment - but I just thought I should mention that I drove by Sandrina's and the OPEN sign was ON! Lit up! Woo!

I can't wait to go. Mangia is not fun and not classy. I hope that Sandrina's keeps the no tank tops rule because come to think of it - I am bothered by tank tops (and the tatoos that peek out from beneath them)! So, ok -that makes me an 80 year old, i don't care so much -- because if not getting fashion irony for frashion irony's sake is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

The night I drove by Sandrina's OPEN sign I also drove around Carondolet and the Ivory Theatre and South south broadway (what a concept!) ...in addition to finding a nunnery (there are those who call it an abbey, i think?) and a lot of bungalows, I drove by a lot of awesome looking - and patronized - taverns.

I also think we accidentally ended up in Afton for a bit.

Iowa for Edwards Video

Whipped up a little somethin' from all the footage I took on my trusty digital camera of Meredith's Iowa Caucus for John Edwards.

So here's your inside look into an actual satisfactual Iowa Caucus!



Here's a link to the show if you can't play it (especially in your blogreader): http://www.viddler.com/Lolololori/videos/1/

First one to comment on the actual video wins!

I also posted a blog on the edwards site -- so far 20 or so people have viewed in the past hour, and I even found someone who'd worked with Meredith in Ottumwa! Yay internets!

Iowa Caucus time

Good times had by all discovering the AWESOME small towns of Southeast Iowa and participating in the caucuses (as much as a Missourian could).

Mer was in her element, and it showed. All her counties did EXTREMELY well. Even at the bars after the caucuses, the Obama people there did not celebrate as hard because they didn't realize that whatever caucus Meredith touches turns to Edwards gold.

What's not to love about Johnny Reid Edwards? Did y'hear him on the debates last night? Slightly repetitive yes, but fighting for the underdog - double YES. What a concept, huh? I wonder just WHO Obama's going to build consensus WITH. Lobbyists? At least I know for sure that John Edwards is not even inviting those cats to the table. In his words, "...they'd eat everything!"


Mer looking from the sidelines as the caucus is in action in Centerville, IA!

Also, I made a little 8 minute video with clips from the whole caucus process if you're really interested in the nuts and bolts. I'll post it up for ya as soon as its uploaded!

The Best Year Ever and Voting

Ok, first things first:
My sister is going to be on Good Morning America tomorrow (Jan 2nd) MORNING with Johnny Reid Edwards eating pancakes in Centerville, IA. Yeah! She is the fiercest blonde democratinista since I don't know when. Y'all know she'll be busting out the hot rollers in a couple hours from now.

As for me, I'm on nocturnal hours as a result of new years celebrations...so I'm posting this 'round 3am....and I'm getting ready for....

the road trip to the IOWA CAUCUS 2008! History in the making, and I'm gonna be an ingredient at the Ottumwa Caucus. It's too bad I'm missing The Royale's mini-caucus (I didn't know Missouri used to have a Caucus...that is something I could get INTO! Caucuses strike me as conviction with a dash of showbiz...I'll get back to you as to whether or not that's true), but I don't really care so much. The Kirkwood delegation of Youth in Government will be making a SHOWING in Iowa!


Resolutions 2007: I didn't make too many official resolutions,. but here are some informal ones.
Rehab Dead foot - not back to running yet, but back to dancing!
Grow Hair on my head - I know I'm not really "in charge" per se of this, but it actually started growing this year, which was awesome...I don't think its been this long since I was 12.
Career path - found it last year, following it now...trying to keep the path IN ST. LOUIS
Do good for the STL homestead - so far the only good I do is go out and make friends, but I am very good at representing. I have gotten myself into some scraps!

Resolutions 2008: oh I've got some! Aside from the pursuit of an actual satisfactual career here (natch) in the great St. Louis, I am going to resolve to :

- Be more like Beyonce at all times
- Start online tshirt racket highlighting esoteric StL pride...all designed by local artists or graphic design/ad shops...at least think of a name
- Stay positive
- continue growing out my hair
- Be a part of an StlBlogger unconference, reach out to StL and StL's university geeks
-----possible meet up with Memphis, NOLA, StL blogger peeps
- Get the Historic Hat Mart, prepare more coworking research
- revisit local musical theater
- Visit New Orleans, Memphis, Philadelphia, Santa Fe
-----possible meeting friends in NYC, LA, SanFran...blah
- attend web conferences
- kick choreography into gear with the Alleycat ladies
- find or start Krewe de Vieux type marching krewe for StL's mardi gras
- enjoy my bachelor lifestyle
- consider getting a dog
- keep it real
- more blogging about river city livin'

ok, enough. Times they are a'changin' and things couldn't be more exciting.
Watch out for Meredith on GMA!
Happy New Year.

Lily Allen is P.G.

Yes, its true.
And she was looking so foxy in her GQ shoot! I was jealous. I am no longer.

Still, maybe I can get her to give me all of her clothes.

That dress would look v. sharp on me. Lily? You can keep the shoes, though I do like those, too. Seriously, Lily has some really great dresses. Where will they go? Can't I just wear them for 9 months?

I mean, whatever, but she really could've rocked her 20's minus a baby and at boyfriend-not-husband. (Hello, why doesn't anyone get married anymore? Aren't any celebrities in the DAR? I mean, Lily's obviously not, but I AM and it's a very important legacy! You can be any race, religion, etc...but you can't be born out of wedlock! It's a little silly, but its a rule. )

Have you ever seen The Patriot? Revolutionary War was not easy! Being a daughter amongst that? Not easy either! Getting married? Comparatively simple.

On behalf of my celebrity brethren, I'm sorry Ben Franklin!!!

Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant, too.

Sigh.

Internet stardom part 1 of ?

My blog is officially the 11th resource EVER for those searching for more information about the "bend and snap" on Google.

I am so proud! It's an unexpected step in an unexpected direction! I'm still gonna keep writing about new media/St. Louis happenings though - don't fret.

It might move up in the rank, considering I'm writing about it. Google is a strange thing.

Whiteboard Hilarity - a chronicle

VTS
Originally uploaded by dgray_xplane

I just found this shot running a search for VTS on Flickr. I remember Mr. Dave Gray with his camera, and I've been honing my flickr search skillz for some consulting work I'm doing so I gave it a shot. Success! I like it how I look v. serious, even though this was a very goofy half hour. I take goofiness very seriously, I do. Flashback to good times in July!

So in case you were puzzled, VTS stands for Visual Thinking School, and it's run by XPlane, a company here in St. Louis that I quite admire. They have it every week to stay on top of their craft. I think that's such a great idea. I found out XPlane existed in a very funny/modern sort of way (a blog! an email! ) and a few intrepid email address guesses and some plane flights some time later.... I found myself at this VTS -- these folks have fun and stay fresh! A real sharp bunch.

Putting/visualizing laughter (that was our subject...found from a creative lil' exersize we'd done earlier involving post-its and some introspection) into four-five little squares was really something --- we thought we were so funny.

Elvis dressed as a pirate + the "cat attacks baby" youtube video +"endolphins" + some (established and aspiring) fluent sketchers = laughter, right? If you click on the photo you can try to see some of our "work" in the photostream and judge for yourself.

This whole drawing on the whiteboard business reminds me of the times my junior year when me, Janna and the whole Penn '04 gang would sit in our apartment and play a game called "Jumbo Nintendo" for literally 5+ hours. I love it that a CompLit major (that'd be me), a Finance Major, Neuroscience major, a Music major, Management major, and occasionally our PreMed major friend...oo, and I think our chemistry major friend, too (yeah, he was good at it...I think its b/c he was Canadian -- its my theory that they are a naturally goofy people)...would just sit around and DRAW pictures for hours. Not that art majors DO sit around and draw for hours (do they?), but here we were none of us draw-ers...drawin' up a storm!

My sister discovered this awesome "game" while working on our high school yearbook with my friend Adam. You're supposed to draw 3 pictures that rhyme... that's pretty much it. Adam, who is hilarious, and his buddies (also hilarious) invented it and really set the standard with the first example:

The rhyme? Jumbo Nintendo, Teapot Pretendo, B-extendo. !!!!

So that's the model, created by Adam and his gang...it is the epitome of nuanced and advanced Jumbo Nintendo. The rest is history. I bet they never play it anymore, but ooooh man - we still do.

I get into such trouble on whiteboards. I have always liked'em. Chalkboards, too, frankly. I love those things! From drawing snarky speech bubbles over my buddies' heads in class (Adam was there -- i think his presence was a bad influence) to implying a cat attacking a baby is a funny concept...the list goes on now that I think about it. I have a complicated history.

ps I love it how finding this one random picture has suddenly sent me back not only to college, but to high school. I love flickr.
pps I also love it how I met a cat named Gabe at this VTS. He made a neat little video, and I later put two and two together (took me embarrassingly long) and figured out he wrote for Webster U's Hwy61 blog that everyone's talkin' up these days. I later heard Gabe on Topic A...a nice lil' show on the KDHX. Snaps to XPlane/VTS/St. Louis! That was cool.

For Meredith

I "made" this for my kid sister, who is hard at work on the Iowa caucuses. Everyone here in St. Louis is in Snow-Day mode, meaining they're walking around like zombies not wanting to go anywhere (myself included, i had no idea what to do with myself today)...so that must mean its time for internetting!

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

I'm particularly fond of my part. I love this movie.

Its a cool site, jibjab.com .. seems you have to pay to get more movies made, which is indeed a bummer. Ya gotta have some sort of business model, so I can't complain toooooo much now!

Birthday yesterday was blizzardy beauty. I have mostly shots of Scott, who accompanied me everywhere I wanted to go. We sang in our choir with gusto! Pictures to be popping up on flickr soon. I hope the idleness of today goes away tomorrow!

So I've been having a lot of fun lately

I'm so lucky that I have Scott here this month (my BIRTHDAY MONTH - my birthday is tomorrow, yo!). He has really been an excellent partner in crime.

I will break it down for you tomorrow or soon or something because I have to do my hair now, people!

All I want for christmas

is some lightbulbs. (and maybe some paint...or a ceiling fan. Or a toilet!)

Check it out!

So Brad Pitt's Make It Right racket in New Orleans makes gift giving easy! He's got this awesome flash illustration thing that lets you tour the house-building/art installation thing he has going and scroll over and see what you can donate. Most things are like, expensive....but lightbulbs are only 5 dollars! Buy a lightbulb in my name! Buy one in your name.

Jimmy Buffet did!

“How do we approach the issue from a proactive rather than an anti-anything perspective?”

NOLA's got something, here.

StayLocal.org

Calling all STL Geeks and Creatives

You know who you are!

So, I have some idea what I'd like to do with this place. Aside from making it my abode.

I'd like to turn it into this place ...maintaining the awesomeness of the Historic Hat Mart, (and of the 'hood) natch.

Mostly b/c I would like that place, b/c I need that place b/c I am an independent consultant and I really really like talking to/hanging out with other people. Like, a LOT.

St. Louis has lots of bloggers, more than a few "startups", and creatives a'plenty -- and more. And then probs some more after that. Surely not much less than my old hometown Philly does! What's the dif? What gives?

This is possible. I'll need some help though - I'm so darn GREEN (not in the eco-friendly way, in the like, young whippersnapper detective way).

Oh well, I'll just start doing what I can now. I'll figure out the hows as it goes.
:)

I also heard Gabe of Hwy61 on KDHX last night (I've met you Gabe -- we were at the same VTS at XPlane back in the summer!!!) - and he said our stl generation needs a place to call its own. I say we need an opportunity to have opportunity. Not to mention, StL is too regionally cliquey to hire the right people in the right places (as anyone who's job searched in any town could tell ya). But I am not here to complain... I really hope to in my life/ this blog ... do the opposite of complaining, whatever that is.

Perhaps this coworking space would offer an opportunity for the 30 somethings to get to know the 20 somethings who could get to know the 3+ universities' young co-ed college-kids=types could get to know everyone else who pays the $25 a month to have a space. Actually I know it could. I just cannot give enough snaps to Tara, Chris et al - who've been inspiring me since August 13th, 2006. (heck yeah I remember the date...or rather gmail does...which is cool...an inspiration birthday)

I'm very excited by this idea. PLUS the building is right next to really really delicious quesadillas.

So if you see this, hear this - spread the word. And then get back to me. please! :)

absolutely nothin'

Chart Depicting "things war is good for"

Mathematical Charts of any type of music are funny, that's all there is to it. This site makes me laugh, and I don't even really listen to that much rap music. Really spend some time with this chart here - it's pretty frickin' genius! I love it.

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